Nearly 63.03 per cent voters exercised their voting right till 6 pm on Sunday for the sixth and penultimate phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. As of now, 65.67 per cent people have voted in the six phases of elections. The last phase of polls will be on May 19 and the counting will take place on May 23.
Nearly 979 candidates were in the fray for the 59 constituencies that went to polls in this phase. In 2014, the voting percentage of these constituencies was 63.67. Briefing reporters after the polling, Election Commission officials said the percentage can increase as voters were still in queue to cast votes in most the States.
In Delhi, the last election recorded 65. 1 per cent votes. The poll officials said the turnout was better than the 2009 elections and hoped that it will increase as polling stations witnessed long queues even at 6 pm on Sunday. The State had 30,819 polling stations with 1.43 crore eligible voters in the list.
State-wise turnout
In the 10 seats of Haryana, the percentage was 62.19 till 6 pm. In 2014, it was 71.86 per cent. The State has about 1.79 crore voters, out of which 83.36 lakh are women. Madhya Pradesh witnessed 60.06 per cent turnout till 6 pm, which is about four per cent higher than the turnout in 2014 (56.81 per cent). There were 1.44 crore voters in the list.
In Jharkhand, four seats — Dhanbad, Giridih, Jamshedpur, Singhbhum — went to booths in this phase. The State witnessed 65.17 turnout till 5 pm on Sunday. In 2014, the turnout was 64.53 per cent.
In West Bengal, where elections were held for eight seats, the polling percentage till 5 pm was 79.93. In 2014, the figure was 84.98.
In Bihar, too, eight seats faced polls. In 2014, the polling percentage was 57.25, while till 6 pm on Sunday, the percentage was 59.38, more than two per cent increase.
For the 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the polling percentage till 6 pm was 54.12 per cent. In 2014, the seats recorded a turnout of 54.53 per cent.
An app for the counting day
The commission said it has established a new system in the voter helpline mobile app for speedy announcement of results. “The mobile app users can view a customised dashboard consisting of his/her favourite candidate. The result from the mobile app will be in the real-time and the large auto scrolling display panels will also be provided across the nation at important places,” the panel said.
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